There is a lesson to be learned from what transpired in the NBA on Wednesday for Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin. Well, the whole NHL, really, but for our purposes Bergevin will do. Pierre Dorion might want to listen up in Ottawa as well.

The San Antonio Spurs were faced with a situation where they had to trade a superstar player, and everyone knew it. They had next to no leverage in having to trade Kawhi Leonard, easily a top-5 player in the world, but one whose health is a serious question mark and who has publicly made clear his desire to become a free agent next summer and sign in his hometown of Los Angeles. That last part might change between now and then, but the first two things – his desire to be traded and his questionable health – were very real. It was, in every sense, an ugly situation for a model franchise in the league, one where ugly situations don’t exist.

General manager R.C. Buford and coach Gregg Popovich had an idea of what they...